Sir Howard Joseph Newby (born 10 December 1947) is a British sociologist. He was appointed

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

in 2008NEWBY, Sir Howard Joseph, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013; accessed 2014_01_26
/ref> and retired in December 2014. He was vice-chancellor of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

from 1994 to 2001. He was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

(UWE), from March 2006. After 15 months at UWE he moved to the University of Liverpool and was almost immediately put on " gardening leave" at UWE for the duration of his year-long notice period, with the then deputy vice-chancellor, Steve West, acting up to the VC role before his subsequent substantive appointment. On 11 February 2014, it was announced that Newby would retire from his role as vice-chancellor of Liverpool in 2015.

Early life

He grew up in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, going to John Port Grammar School in

Etwall Etwall () is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, southwest of Derby on the A50. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,906. Geography Etwall is located between the A516 bypass and the A50 in south Derbyshire. The A516 draws hea ...

, before attending Atlantic College, an independent (private) residential sixth form college in Wales, as a scholarship student. He attended the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

where he gained a BA and

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Career

His other academic posts include professor of sociology at the

and visiting appointments in Australia and the United States. From 1980 to 1983 he was professor of sociology and rural sociology at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. In August 2001, Newby ended a two-year term as president of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

, the UK body which represents the university sector. His year-long presidency of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

ended in September 2002. He was appointed as the Chief Executive of The

Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...

(HEFCE) in October 2001. He served as President of the

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The Academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of matters, a ...

from 2008 to 2013. He is a director of the

Universities Superannuation Scheme The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with £89.6 billion under management as of August 2021 (up from £67 billion in 2019). It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and aca ...

Limited, and chair of trustees for NatCen Social Research. Newby has published many books and articles on social change in rural England, and was for eight years a Rural Development Commissioner, a member of the government body responsible for the economic and social regeneration of rural England. From 1983 to 1988 he was director of the

ESRC The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fund ...

Data Archive, a national facility for storing and disseminating computerised datasets for use by researchers in the public and private sectors. In November 2008, Newby announced plans to transform Liverpool University into a centre for "knowledge exchange", opening a graduate school in India. In January 2009, academics and trade unions at Liverpool were reported as expressing unease at planned restructuring, the offer of voluntary redundancy to all staff and the use of a private company Spirit of Creation (previously used at UWE) in circumventing "established structures and procedures in pushing the plan through". There was also concern at what was perceived to be a shift away from humanities and social sciences towards science, where research income was potentially higher.

Recent events

In January 2010 the blogging platform

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suspended a number of blogs which it hosted after claims by the director of legal services at the

, Kevan Ryan, that some posts on them defamed Newby.

Personal life

He was married first in 1970 to Janet Elizabeth Craddock and they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 2003. He was married second in 2005 to Sheila Mary Mann and he has one step son and one step daughter. Newby was awarded a CBE in 1995 for his services to social science and a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

in 2000 for his services to higher education. He is a member of the

Railway Heritage Committee The Railway Heritage Committee (RHC) was set up in the 1990s following the Privatisation of British Rail in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. Its purpose was to identify and designate railway records and artefacts which were historically significan ...

and trustee of Swindon Steam Railway Museum. He was awarded the Hong Kong

Silver Bauhinia Star The Silver Bauhinia Star (, SBS) is the second Bauhinia Star rank in the honours system of Hong Kong, awarded to people who have taken a leading part in public affairs or voluntary work over a long period. The award was created in 1997 to repla ...

(SBS) in 2021.

Bibliography

*1977 ''The Deferential Worker: a Study of Farm Workers in East Anglia''. London: Allen Lane. *1980 ''Green and Pleasant Land?: Social Change in Rural England''. Harmondsworth: Penguin. *1987 ''Country Life: a Social History of Rural England''. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. *1988 ''The Countryside in Question''. London: Hutchinson. *1989 (with David Rose, Gordon Marshall, Carol Vogler). ''Social Class in Modern Britain''. London ; Boston: Unwin Hyman. *1995 (with D. Lee). ''The Problem of Sociology: an Introduction to the Discipline''. London ; New York: Routledge. *1995 ''National Trust: The Next Hundred Years'' London: National Trust

References

External links

Newby attacks funding system Times Higher Education Supplement
* ttp://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2005/newbybio.htm Biography from HEFCEbr>Howard Newby at "Pioneers of Qualitative Research" from the Economic and Social Data Service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newby, Howard 1947 births Living people Academics of the University of Essex British sociologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Merseyside Knights Bachelor Vice-Chancellors of the University of Southampton People associated with the University of the West of England, Bristol People from Derby University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty People educated at Atlantic College People educated at a United World College Rural sociologists Vice-Chancellors of the University of Liverpool